One collector: Inland Revenue (IRD) owns PAYE (with the ACC earners' levy riding inside it), payday filing, KiwiSaver administration, ESCT, student loan deductions and child support employer deductions — plus the register of approved PAYE intermediaries. It all files and pays through one channel, myIR, into one employer (EMP) account.
One inspector: MBIE, through Employment New Zealand, sets the minimum wage and owns the Holidays Act; its Labour Inspectorate enforces them, and the Employment Relations Authority imposes the penalties.
One invoice: ACC. No registration, no return — it invoices its levies annually from payroll data Inland Revenue passes on.
One register: the Companies Office. The overseas-branch register is a separate legal axis — it neither triggers nor replaces anything at IRD.
Inland Revenue: the near-everything regulator
In most jurisdictions the tax office is one payroll authority among several. In New Zealand it is nearly the whole map. Inland Revenue (IRD) is where an employer registers ("as soon as you start employing staff"), where every payday is reported, and where almost every dollar withheld from a pay ends up — whatever the dollar is ultimately for.
What it owns:
- PAYE — income tax withheld from every pay, with the ACC earners' levy collected inside the same composite deduction. The rates and mechanics live in PAYE & KiwiSaver, explained.
- Payday filing — the employment information (EI) return due every time you pay employees, plus new-hire and departing-employee details. The clocks and channels are in Payday filing and paying IRD.
- KiwiSaver administration — IRD runs the employer-facing machinery: auto-enrolment of eligible new hires, compulsory employer contributions, opt-out forms, and (since the Budget 2025 changes) temporary rate reductions. The funds themselves are private — IRD routes the money (see below).
- ESCT — the employer superannuation contribution tax, withheld from employer KiwiSaver contributions and paid to IRD with the pay run.
- Student loan deductions — the standard payroll deduction plus IRD-instructed compulsory extras (SLCIR) and employee-requested extras (SLBOR), each a separate field on the EI return.
- Child support employer deductions — fixed amounts set by IRD deduction notice, first in priority after PAYE and subject to protected net earnings. IR335's rule is absolute: "You must continue to make deductions unless we tell you to stop."
- The PAYE-intermediary register — IRD approves PAYE intermediaries (Tax Administration Act 1994, ss 124H–124K) and publishes the register; an employer can transfer its PAYE and ESCT obligations to one outright (Income Tax Act 2007, s RP 2).
- The perimeter itself — for foreign employers, IRD's operational statement OS 21/04 decides whether New Zealand payroll obligations attach at all. That story is told in Running New Zealand payroll from overseas.
What it takes from an employer: one electronic payment per cycle to the employer (EMP) account — covering PAYE, child support, KiwiSaver employee deductions, KiwiSaver employer contributions, student loan deductions and ESCT together — due monthly by the 20th of the following month for most employers, twice monthly for the largest (paying deductions to Inland Revenue). Plus the EI return itself, every payday.
When you'll hear from it: constantly, but almost entirely through myIR and mostly machine-shaped — filing acknowledgements, and the deduction notices that change your next pay run: a child support amount to start or stop, an SLCIR catch-up percentage, a KiwiSaver opt-out or rate change to process. Miss a filing or payment clock and the correspondence turns to penalties and interest.
This concentration is the structural fact about New Zealand payroll: tax, retirement savings, injury-insurance levy, student loans and child support all leave the employer in one payment to one authority. Compare Germany, where the same pay run answers to the tax office plus roughly ninety separate social-insurance collection points (Einzugsstellen) — see Who governs German payroll.
MBIE and Employment New Zealand: who sets, who inspects
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) owns the employment-standards side of payroll — the rules about what you must pay and record, as opposed to IRD's rules about what you must withhold. It speaks to employers as Employment New Zealand (employment.govt.nz), and it enforces through the Labour Inspectorate. The setting and the inspecting are different arms of the same ministry:
- Who sets: minimum wage rates are reviewed annually and set by Order in Council, taking effect each 1 April and published on Employment New Zealand's rates page — the current figures and the exemption-permit rules are in Minimum wage & wage rules. MBIE also owns the Holidays Act 2003 and its replacement project, the Employment Leave Bill (see Leave and the Holidays Act), and the rules on written employment agreements, wage deductions and record-keeping.
- Who inspects: the Labour Inspectorate. Labour Inspectors can demand the wages and time record and the holiday and leave record (the six-year duties covered in Employment agreements & wage records), issue infringement notices for record failures, recover wage arrears, and — a quirk worth knowing — they are also the officials who grant the only lawful sub-minimum, the minimum wage exemption permit.
- Who penalises: the Employment Relations Authority, in one line — the investigative tribunal where Labour Inspectorate actions and employee grievances land, and the body that actually imposes penalties and orders arrears.
What it takes from an employer: no money and no filings. MBIE runs no payroll return and collects no levy — what it takes is records and answers, on demand. In an inspection the record is the defence; a correct payment you can't evidence is treated as a problem (Employment NZ, record-keeping).
When you'll hear from it: every 1 April, when the new minimum wage lands in your payroll calendar — and otherwise only when something triggers it: an employee complaint, a sector audit, a visit. Silence from MBIE is normal; it is not evidence of compliance.
ACC: the levies you never file for
The Accident Compensation Corporation runs New Zealand's universal, no-fault injury insurance, and it is the strangest authority in the set: an employer never registers with it and never files to it, yet pays it every year.
- What it owns: the employer Work levy (its standard employer product is "Workplace Cover", rated by industry classification and, for larger employers, experience), the flat Working Safer levy it collects on behalf of WorkSafe New Zealand, and the earners' levy on employees — which never touches ACC's own rails at all: it is deducted inside PAYE and travels to IRD with the tax.
- What it takes from an employer: one annual invoice, in arrears. The mechanics, per ACC's own pages: "When you file a tax return Inland Revenue passes your details on to us so we can invoice you for levies" (understanding levies). The invoice bundles a final levy — the wash-up for the previous levy year, computed from the payroll you declared to IRD — and a provisional levy for the current year, and is payable within 30 days of the invoice date unless a payment plan is agreed (understanding your levy invoice).
- When you'll hear from it: once a year — employers can expect the invoice around July, after IRD has passed the year's payroll data across. Levy rates reset each 1 April; the current figures are ACC's to publish, not this page's to carry.
The payroll consequence: ACC compliance is really IRD compliance. Get the earners' levy component of PAYE and the "earnings not liable" reporting right on every payday filing, and the ACC side reduces to paying an invoice.
The Companies Office: the separate axis
The Companies Office (also within MBIE, but a distinct registrar function) owns the corporate-identity layer: the companies register, the Overseas Register, and the NZBN. For payroll it matters in exactly one scenario — the foreign employer.
- What it owns: the register an overseas company must join when it starts "carrying on business in New Zealand" — within 10 working days, under Part 18 of the Companies Act 1993 (ss 332–336). Branch registration of the foreign entity itself suffices: no New Zealand subsidiary, no resident director — the only mandatory local footprint is a person in New Zealand authorised to accept service (Companies Office help centre).
- What it takes from an employer: registration (name reservation, then the overseas-company registration with certified incorporation documents) and register maintenance. Nothing payroll-shaped, ever.
- When you'll hear from it: only if you cross the "carrying on business" line — a fact-based test with a statutory exclusion list (a bank account, isolated short transactions and the like don't count, and employing staff appears on neither list).
The critical point is independence: the Companies Office gate and the IRD gate are different statutes applied by different regulators. An overseas company can register as an employer with IRD and never appear on the Overseas Register, or be branch-registered before it employs anyone — although in practice the facts that cross one threshold usually cross the other. Both gates, and the sequence, are walked through in Registrations & employer IDs and Running New Zealand payroll from overseas.
The edges of the map: KiwiSaver providers and the payment rails
Two more players complete the picture, each needing only a line. KiwiSaver providers: the schemes your employees belong to are private funds run by commercial providers under financial-markets regulation (the FMA's territory, not IRD's) — but payroll never deals with a provider directly, because Inland Revenue routes the deductions and employer contributions to the right scheme. Payments NZ and the Reserve Bank: the rail that carries net wages — bulk direct credit through the banks' BECS system, settled via SBI and running every day of the year since May 2023 — is governed by Payments NZ, an industry body, with the Reserve Bank overseeing settlement and, so far, leaving real-time retail payments to the private sector; neither is a regulator an employer files anything to.
The map on one page
As verified against the cited authority pages on 10 July 2026:
| Authority | What it owns | What it takes from an employer | When you'll hear from it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inland Revenue (IRD) | PAYE (earners' levy inside), payday filing, KiwiSaver administration, ESCT, student loans, child support, PAYE-intermediary register | The EI return every payday; one EMP payment per cycle covering every payroll deduction | Every payday, via myIR; deduction notices whenever an employee's circumstances change |
| MBIE / Employment NZ incl. Labour Inspectorate | Minimum wage setting, Holidays Act, employment agreements, wage & leave records; the Inspectorate enforces | No money, no filings — records and answers, on demand | Every 1 April (new rates); otherwise on complaint, audit or visit |
| Employment Relations Authority | Disputes, grievances, penalties | Penalties and arrears — if a matter gets there | Only when a matter is filed |
| ACC | Work levy (Workplace Cover), Working Safer levy, earners' levy (via PAYE) | One annual invoice in arrears, built from IRD data — nothing to file | Once a year, invoice around July |
| Companies Office | Companies register, Overseas Register, NZBN | Branch registration if "carrying on business"; register maintenance | Only if you cross the registration threshold |
| KiwiSaver providers FMA-regulated | The funds themselves | Nothing directly — the money arrives via IRD | Rarely, if ever |
| Payments NZ / RBNZ | The direct-credit rail (BECS/SBI); settlement oversight | Nothing — access is through your bank | Never |
Concentration cuts both ways. Because IRD holds the whole deduction stack, a single missed EMP payment is simultaneously a tax, KiwiSaver, student loan and child support failure — and because ACC and (in part) the Labour Inspectorate work from IRD's data, an error in payday filing propagates to authorities you never filed to. In New Zealand, the payday filing rail is the compliance surface.
Quick answers
Which authority does a New Zealand employer deal with most?
Inland Revenue (IRD), by a wide margin. IRD registers you as an employer, receives an employment information return every payday, and collects PAYE, KiwiSaver deductions and employer contributions, ESCT, student loan deductions and child support deductions in a single payment to your employer (EMP) account. It also administers the KiwiSaver enrolment machinery, issues the deduction notices you must act on, and approves and registers PAYE intermediaries. Almost all of it happens through one channel, the myIR portal. The other authorities are narrower: MBIE and its Labour Inspectorate own employment standards, ACC invoices its levies off IRD data, and the Companies Office keeps the company registers.
Do New Zealand employers register with or file anything to ACC?
No. There is no separate ACC employer registration and no ACC return. ACC learns about your payroll from Inland Revenue: after you file, IRD passes your income and payroll details to ACC, which then invoices you directly for the Work levy and the Working Safer levy — employers can expect the annual invoice around July, payable within 30 days of the invoice date unless a payment plan is set up. The third levy, the earners' levy, is deducted from employees inside PAYE and travels to IRD with everything else. The only ACC-shaped work in a pay run is getting the PAYE deduction right and paying the invoice when it arrives.
Who sets the minimum wage and who enforces it in New Zealand?
Setting and enforcing both sit on the MBIE side, but in different arms. Minimum wage rates are reviewed every year and set by Order in Council, with new rates taking effect on 1 April and published by Employment New Zealand, MBIE's employment-standards arm. Enforcement belongs to the Labour Inspectorate, which sits within MBIE: Labour Inspectors can demand wages and time records, issue infringement notices and take employers to the Employment Relations Authority, the investigative tribunal that actually imposes penalties. The same split covers the Holidays Act, employment agreements and record-keeping duties — MBIE writes and publishes the rules, the Inspectorate polices them, and the Authority penalises breaches.
Is Companies Office registration the same thing as registering as an employer?
No — they are two independent gates run by two different regulators under two different statutes. Registering as an employer is an Inland Revenue process attached to paying people. Registering on the Companies Office Overseas Register is a companies-law duty that attaches when an overseas company starts carrying on business in New Zealand, within 10 working days. An overseas company can be a registered employer with IRD without appearing on any Companies Office register, and can be branch-registered without yet employing anyone — though in practice the facts that cross one line often cross the other too.
Every authority's clock, answered from one pay run
Ledra Pay's New Zealand country pack files the EI return on IRD's payday clock, builds the single EMP remittance with every deduction inside it, applies the notices IRD sends, and keeps the wage, leave and tax records the Labour Inspectorate and Inland Revenue each expect — so whichever authority asks, the answer is an export, not an emergency.
See NZ coverage →Government sources
- Inland Revenue — Register as an employer (registration with IRD "as soon as you start employing staff"; myIR or IR334).
- Inland Revenue — Payday filing (the employment information return due every time you pay employees).
- Inland Revenue — Paying deductions to Inland Revenue (the single EMP-account payment covering PAYE, child support, KiwiSaver deductions and contributions, student loans and ESCT).
- Inland Revenue — Employer's guide IR335 (June 2026 edition: child support deduction notices and priority, SLCIR/SLBOR, ESCT, record duties).
- Inland Revenue — PAYE intermediaries (the approved-intermediary register and the responsibility shift).
- Inland Revenue, Tax Technical — OS 21/04: Non-resident employers' obligations (when New Zealand payroll obligations attach to a foreign employer).
- Employment New Zealand — Minimum wage rates and types (annual 1 April reset; current rates).
- Employment New Zealand — Keeping accurate records (Labour Inspectorate enforcement: records demands, infringement notices, Authority penalties).
- MBIE — Holidays Act reform: the Employment Leave Bill (MBIE as owner of the Holidays Act and its replacement).
- ACC — Understanding levies if you work or own a business (no employer registration; IRD passes payroll details for invoicing; earners' levy inside PAYE).
- ACC — Understanding your levy invoice (final plus provisional levy; payable within 30 days of the invoice date).
- Companies Office — How overseas companies set up as an NZ business (Overseas Register, 10-working-day rule, certificate of registration).
- New Zealand Legislation — Companies Act 1993, Part 18 (ss 332–336: "carrying on business", registration duty, person authorised to accept service; consolidated version as at 1 July 2025).
- Payments NZ (industry body) — Settlement Before Interchange and Payments every day arrives (the BECS/SBI direct-credit rail; 365-day operation since 26 May 2023).
- Reserve Bank of New Zealand — Payments (settlement oversight; real-time account-to-account payments left to industry, monitored).
Related
PAYE, payday filing, KiwiSaver, the Holidays Act and wage records — the hub.
The EI return every payday, the EMP payment clocks, and ACC’s annual invoice.
Sufficient presence, IR56 workers, voluntary registration and the branch-register question.